The mission of Sierra Forest Legacy is to engage citizens, communities, and coalition members in the healthy management of Sierra Nevada forest ecosystems to protect and restore the region's unparalleled beauty and natural values. We apply the best practices of science, advocacy and grassroots organizing to safeguard forest lands throughout the Sierra Nevada.

Where we work

“The days have ended when the forest may be viewed only as trees and trees viewed only as timber. The soil and the water, the grasses and the shrubs, the fish and the wildlife, and the beauty of the forest must become integral parts of the resource manager's thinking and actions.”
-Senator Hubert Humphrey, 1976

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In preparation for a new cycle of forest planning on national forests in the Sierra Nevada, Sierra Forest Legacy and our conservation partners have developed a conservation strategy designed to set a new standard for conservation planning in the region, one that meets the challenges of the critical issues of our time.

The resulting document, National Forests in the Sierra Nevada: A Conservation Strategy, was released in 2012. It contains detailed information and recommendations on a variety of topic areas relative to conservation in the forests of the Sierra Nevada. Click on any of the topic areas below to go directly to the chapter pages. We've also created a home page hub for the Strategy, linking associated documents and other resources.

Managing Sierra Nevada Forests

New Technical Report (PSW-GTR-237)

Since its publication in 2009, and with widespread acceptance throughout the region, GTR-220--AnEcosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests—has revolutionized national forest management in the Sierra Nevada. This new report, edited by PSW research ecologist Malcolm North, provides a collection of papers relevant to implementation of the GTR over the last two years, and provides additional scientific information for several key Sierran wildlife species, including the California spotted owl, American marten, and Pacific fisher. The report also provides new tools for project level planning to aid in successful implementation, and additional clarification of the principles of the new approach. With chapters on fire and fuels reduction, bark beetles, climate change, collaboration, case studies where the GTR has been implemented--and an appendix of photographs of forest structure illustrating wildlife habitat--the publication is certain to be a valuable tool that will help to increase forest heterogeneity and resilience in the Sierra Nevada.

Download the report here (8 MB PDF). You may also order a hard copy of the report from the Forest Service, details at this website.

A new report from Pacific Southwest Research Station (with addendum, February, 2010)

We applaud this new technical report from the Forest Service Sierra Nevada Research Center, Pacific Southwest Research Station. Authors Malcolm North, Peter Stine, Kevin O'Hara, William Zielinkski, and Scott Stephens present a clearly articulated restoration strategy for the mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, based on synthesis of an important large body of recent research from a variety of scientific disciplines, including forest ecology, silviculture, wildlife biology, and fire science. This new platform for refining ecological restoration in the Sierra Nevada is precisely what is needed at this juncture.

Emphasis goals of the strategy include increasing heterogeneity at multiple scales, greater use of fire for multiple benefits, increasing connectivity (reducing fragmentation), and facilitating greater resiliency of forest landscapes to withstand climate impacts and other changes. The suggestions for thinning would move the agency away from reliance on outmoded and uniform silvicultural prescriptions, and would result in more diverse configurations of cohorts of trees in clumped spacing and retention of multi-aged stands. Guided by ecological thinking, the researchers suggest a management approach that mimics natural processes.

If implemented across the mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, the strategy should result in preservation and restoration of vital wildlife habitat for species like the imperiled Pacific fisher and California spotted owl, and the many associated plants and animals that require complex, old forest habitats. This ecological approach would also ensure the continuity of the entire succession of diverse plant communities and wildlife in Sierran forest landscapes.

Sierran mixed conifer forests today are highly disturbed and fragmented from overly aggressive fire suppression practices and forest management policies. The result has been an entrainment towards homogenous landscapes and loss of biodiversity. New, evolving fire policies and thoughtful ecosystem approaches to management are currently being debated and largely embraced by the conservation community. Increasing the level of ecology-focused scientific research that can inform management is a key goal for Sierra Forest Legacy and our partner groups.

The authors include a list of research and monitoring needs to further refine the strategy specific to Sierra Nevada forests. The report is a welcome breath of fresh air in the haze of ideological wrangling obscuring the urgency of reaching sustainable management goals for Sierra Nevada forest ecosystems.

Download the GTR here (2nd printing February 2010, with addendum, 1.40 MB PDF). You may also order a hard copy of the report from the Forest Service, details at this website.